After forming under the name Sefler in 1994, Saves the Day released their debut studio album, Can't Slow Down, in 1998. It was followed by Through Being Cool (1999), which featured their first single, "Shoulder to the Wheel". Stay What You Are was released in 2001, peaking at number 100 on the Billboard 200. It spawned two successful music videos on MTV2, for the singles "At Your Funeral" and "Freakish", and has since sold 300,000 copies.[1] After the success of Stay What You Are, Saves the Day signed to Dreamworks Records, who co-released their next studio album, In Reverie, with Vagrant Records. The album peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 and number 4 on the Independent Albums chart. Their latest, self-titled LP was released in 2013.[5]

Saves the Day originally performed in the New Jersey area under the name Sefler as a four-piece band with Chris Conley on bass guitar and vocals. The band changed their name in late 1997. Of the original lineup, only Conley remains today. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes over the years and has only recorded two consecutive albums with the same lineup (Through Being Cool and Stay What You Are), with Conley as the only permanent fixture.

Using their own resources, Saves the Day released a five-song acoustic EP, I'm Sorry I'm Leaving, in early 1999. Later that year, they released their second full-length with Equal Vision, Through Being Cool, which saw the band further refining their melodic sound. The band began drawing attention from some of the larger independent labels, eventually signing with Vagrant Records.

In 2001, the band began moving away from their roots with the release of Stay What You Are. The album had a poppier feel with more intricate guitar work and arrangements rather than the previous power chord-based sound. The band gained some exposure with a video for the song "At Your Funeral", and made appearances on Conan O'Brien and The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. The band also released a video for "Freakish" in April 2002; the video featuring Muppet-esque puppets. Shortly after the album's release, guitarist Ted Alexander left the band and Conley took over guitar duties. The album was also original drummer Bryan Newman's last recording with the band, who also left shortly after the album's release.

With the success of Stay What You Are, the band signed with major label DreamWorks Records, who would co-release their next album with Vagrant, who still had the band under contract. The 2003 release of In Reverie saw the band further experiment with their sound and featured less macabre lyrics than past recordings. The drastic change in sound was alienating among fans, and the album received little support from DreamWorks. The song "Anywhere With You" was released as a single, but went largely unnoticed, despite the album peaking at 27 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.[citation needed] Conley later said the following about the album's release in an interview with Skratch Magazine:

"DreamWorks Records completely abandoned it three days after it was released, saying that we made the wrong record. Then they were sold a month later. They were worthless."[6]

Shortly after the album's release, DreamWorks Records was absorbed by Interscope, who would eventually drop the band from its roster.

The band finally fulfilled their contractual obligations with Vagrant Records in 2004 with the release of Ups and Downs: Early Recordings and B-Sides, which was a collection of b-sides and included the I'm Sorry I'm Leaving EP. Ups and Downs also featured a song from the band's early days under the name Sefler. Conley said in an AP Podcast interview that the wrong Sefler song had been put on the CD. He had asked for a different one but when he received the final version he discovered it was the wrong one. The album was dedicated to former bassist Sean McGrath, who died in 2004 at age 28 after a two-year battle with intestinal cancer. McGrath recorded with the band on Can't Slow Down and had left during the writing of Through Being Cool. The band was relatively inactive in 2004, though during that time they set up their own studio, The Electric Ladybug, located in Chico, California.

Three-part concept: Sound the Alarm, Under the Boards and Daybreak[edit]

In early 2005, the band began writing their follow-up to In Reverie without a label. During the writing process, longtime bassist Eben D'amico left the band. He was replaced by Glassjaw bassist Manuel Carrero.

The band recorded their fifth studio album, Sound the Alarm, in 2005, without a label. The band announced in January 2006 that they had re-signed with Vagrant, who would release Sound the Alarm in April.[1] The album marked a return to the band's macabre lyrics and drew more from their influences than In Reverie had. During the Sound the Alarm recording sessions, the band also recorded an EP of acoustic versions of several songs from past albums, which was sold on tour throughout 2006 as Bug Sessions Volume One. The band toured extensively throughout 2006 and early 2007 in support of the album. It was announced that Sound the Alarm was part one of a three part concept. The next album in the trilogy was released in 2007, titled "Under the Boards". The final album in the series, "Daybreak", was released in September 2011 after a very long wait by fans.

In February 2007, they announced that thirteen demos had already been recorded for a new album, which would be titled Under the Boards. It was also revealed that this would be the second of a three-part concept involving ''Sound the Alarm, Under the Boards and the yet to be released Daybreak.[7]Chris Conley said that "Sound the Alarm is an expression of discontent. Under the Boards is reflection and remorse. Daybreak is acceptance."[7] Conley also said about the three-album concept: "The whole trilogy was just a bit of a therapeutic experiment. I felt like all twisted up and broken inside and just angry and confused and depressed and sad and I couldn’t really deal with the world or myself. So I was just like ′this has got to end, I have to at least try and get a grip on the world and on myself′. So I dove into the depths of my mind and brought out what I was finding, so the first album was filled with all the anger, the surface pain, and all the paranoid delusional thoughts that were there. The second album, Under the Boards, dealt with how all of that was making my life unbearable, and I realized I had to change, so that album was the transitional part, starting to transition out of that dark place, because you realize how it's affecting your life. So Daybreak is coming to terms with everything and trying to understand why I actually got that way and learning to accept it by exploring what it is and why it was there and simultaneously trying to grow through it and be a better person, not purely full of anger."[8]

In March 2007, after more than four years with the band, drummer Pete Parada left Saves the Day to join the Offspring.[9] Carrero's Glassjaw bandmate Durijah Lang took over drum duties, and recorded on Under the Boards. The album was released on October 30, 2007, through Vagrant Records.

Chris Conley said in an interview that the next Bug Sessions would be a collection of live songs recorded on their 30-date acoustic tour. Volumes 2 and 3 of the once-tour-exclusive EPs were originally only sold on tour, but are now on the iTunes Music Store. After a string of shows on the East Coast in late October 2008, Saves the Day planned to enter the studio to begin work on their next studio album, Daybreak.

Saves the Day began working on Daybreak in 2009. It was announced in March 2009 that longstanding guitarist David Soloway, would no longer be playing for Saves the Day. He continues to play bass for his side project Two Tongues with Chris Conley. In April, Arun Bali was announced as Soloway's replacement.[10] Continuing this string of events, on December 21, it was announced that bassist Manuel Carrero and drummer Durijah Lang would be leaving to focus on Glassjaw. They were replaced by Rodrigo Palma on bass and Spencer Peterson on drums (Ex-Hidden In Plain View).

In September 2010, Peterson's personal website announced that he had left Saves the Day and joined Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz's new electropop group Black Cards. About two weeks later, drummer Claudio Rivera's personal website announced that he had joined Saves the Day. In October 2010, the band announced that they would be selling dropcards to access a digital-only EP, called "1984", while on tour with Say Anything and Motion City Soundtrack. The EP contains the track "1984" from the upcoming album.

Daybreak was released on September 13, 2011, through Razor & Tie, after several delays during the previous two years. This was the first time Saves the Day had released an album without a single band member (besides Conley) having played on an earlier record.

In a December 2011 interview, Chris Conley revealed that an eighth Saves the Day album was in the works and that he was hoping that the band would be back in the studio in the fall of 2012 to record it.[11] On November 23, 2012, Saves the Day announced they were making a new record but wanted the fans to get involved. They signed up on PledgeMusic and offered fans everything from free downloads and album updates to limited edition T-shirts, tickets to a shows, and private house shows. They released a demo to 'pledgers' of one of the songs on the new album, "Ain't No Kind of Love", when pledging started. For Christmas 2012, they did a cover of Baby Please Come Home; and in the new year, Weezer's, "Across the Sea". Saves the Day released a music video for their song "Ring Pop" on YouTube. The album, titled "Saves the Day", was released on September 17, 2013.[12] On May 20, 2013, it was announced that Dennis Wilson had joined the band on a permanent basis, replacing former drummer Claudio Rivera.[13] After the album was released, the band did two tours. A headlining tour around North America with Into It. Over It. and Hostage Calm supporting. They also did a holiday acoustic tour in North America with Walter Schreifels and Jon Simmons.